BERNE — A 67-year-old Berne man has been charged with sexually abusing a child over the summer, police say.

Edward Lemerise was arrested at his home in Berne on Oct. 23, according to a report from New York State Police. 

The investigation into Lemerise began on Oct. 5, said Trooper Kerra M. Burns, public information officer for New York State Police Troop G, after state police were contacted by an adult whom the child had spoken to.

Over this past summer, Lemerise had sexual contact with a child under the age of 17 whom he knew, wrote Burns in an email to The Enterprise. Burns said further information about the victim would not be disclosed in order to protect the victim’s identity.

Lemerise was arraigned in Berne Town Court and sent to Albany County’s jail, but was released after posting the required $35,000 bond. He is scheduled to return to Berne Town Court at a later date.

Lemerise has been charged with third-degree rape as well as two counts of third-degree criminal sex acts, both felonies. He is also charged with third-degree sex abuse, forcible touching, endangering the welfare of a child, and first-degree unlawfully dealing with a child, all misdemeanors.

Lemerise is the third Hilltown man charged with sex abuse in the last month. John E. McIntyre, 31, of Berne was charged last month with rape for having sex with a 13-year-old girl, police said. Justin W. Parker, 43, of Rensselaerville, was also charged last month with sexually abusing a girl for several years as well as strangling her at least once in 2014, when she was 12 years old and Parker was living in Westerlo, police said.

Burns said that there is no known connection at this time between Lemerise’s case and the other two cases.